**Chapter 255: This Blade Only Points to Enemies**
The once lively marketplace had fallen into silence, with its establishments’ outer walls splattered in bl**d-red colors, the source of which was unknown.
The suffocating stench of bl**d pervaded the area, mingling with severed limbs and unidentified internal organs, all mixed into a puddle on the stone-paved road, making every step feel sticky.
Pairs of lifeless eyes, filled with bl**d, gazed wide open, silently observing the figure of the girl who had yet to arrive, and thus missed out on the previous moments of revelry.
They were “watching” Luxianbei, and Luxianbei was also watching them.
The instant she stepped into the marketplace, a strange restlessness emerged in her eyes.
It was eager, as if impatient to help her see clearly what had happened just moments before on this long street.
Feeling the peculiarity in her eyes, Luxianbei was momentarily startled, her steps faltered.
This was the first time her eyes had “sought” her opinion since regaining sight after that car accident.
In the past, whenever they wanted to see something, they would directly present everything to her without considering whether she could handle it or not.
Would this change be a result of advancing to the Cataclysm Grade…?
The power of Cataclysm Grade had made an uncontrollable ability slightly more controllable, Luxianbei thought.
To her, it was akin to a trainer of insufficient level suddenly obtaining a high-level Pokémon that exceeded their capability. Before fulfilling the requirements, it was only natural for that high-level Pokémon to act out.
Exactly, I’m talking about you, Charizard!
After the brief shock, Luxianbei steadied herself, raised a hand to gently caress her eyes, as if conversing with them, and murmured, “Since you’re ready, then let everything that has transpired here manifest clearly before me…”
She had come to investigate the truth behind the riot, and if she could “see” it more clearly, that would certainly be a good thing.
As her words fell, she looked up at the sky, then turned her gaze down at her feet, confirming that the two terrible entities hidden above the sky and deep underground had temporarily not noticed her. She quietly urged her spirit energy to circulate.
As the ethereal shadow with red hair and blue clothing flashed by, the spirit energy imbued with the power of “North Goddess” filled her eyes with a scorching, desolate essence, accompanied by a slight burning sensation leading to a surprising blur in her vision.
In a daze, everything reflected in her eyes began to wither away, as if everything was igniting beneath her gaze, and in the blink of an eye, only ashes remained, stirring up pale grey dust.
The next moment, as the ash dissipated, the things before her regained clarity.
The road remained that road, merely enveloped in a dim, yellowed hue like an old photograph, with deep red glows floating in the air.
Those deep red glows rose from an unknown source in the ground, ascending to the sky, like bl**d-stained veils swirling madly in the wind, covering the entire marketplace and much of the God Realm Yumen in a red haze, continuously exuding an unsettling aura.
Luxianbei raised her hand, attempting to touch the deep red essence drifting by her.
Her pale fingertip, upon making contact with those deep red glows, triggered a sensation akin to an electric shock.
Immediately, the deep red essence solidified rapidly, transforming into small, dark-colored globules of flesh with some strange form of vitality.
It resembled splattered bl**d and minced meat from an unknown source.
In the moment of solidification, those fleshy globules quickly grew numerous “hairs.”
Upon closer inspection, those hairs consisted of various twisted limbs—hands, feet, claws, tentacles… gathering on the bl**d droplet-like body, writhing and crawling as if they were some bizarrely shaped insect, desperately trying to spread a faint yet dangerously potent spirit energy.
As that dangerous spirit energy invaded her body, Luxianbei’s core, embodying the witch’s urban legend, stirred restlessly, igniting a fervor that was uncontrollable within her heart.
Is this ghastly thing causing trouble?
Luxianbei furrowed her brow, then allowed her spirit energy to ripple at her fingertips, creating a distortion in the air.
As the scorching spirit energy swept past, the flesh clinging to her fingertips immediately stiffened, then noticeably dried up at an observable speed, finally turning to ashes that fell away.
After rubbing a few times at the remaining ashes on her fingertips, Luxianbei pondered for a moment, scanning her surroundings.
In her line of sight were the scattered remains, resembling bl**d-soaked rag bags, with countless deep red fleshes writhing as they quickly navigated through the “nest” constructed from corpses.
Suddenly, a wind blew, and countless deep red fleshes took off into the air, transforming into deep red glows dancing with the sky.
After observing for a moment, she made a preliminary judgment.
Those drifting deep red essences were imperceptible to the n*ked eye and touch, as their spirit energy fluctuations were too weak and concealed, making them difficult even for spiritual awareness to detect.
If they could excite the witch’s urban legend, it should, without a doubt, stem from the Shaman Queen’s power…
However, a slight application of spirit energy could immediately destroy it, indicating that the erosion on spiritual ability users or urban legends wasn’t yet serious; rather, it posed a greater threat to ordinary citizens.
Luxianbei thought as she stepped forward a few paces, turning to the right side of the street to see two relatively intact corpses.
From their physical outlines, one was a middle-aged man and the other a boy.
Where her gaze landed, shadows flickered, and faint growls resonated.
—
A burly middle-aged man, clutching a bloody scythe, moved forward with a numbed expression, his face swarmed with deep red flesh squirming like maggots.
A boy, approximately thirteen or fourteen years old, was tugging desperately at his sleeve in panic and helplessness.
“Dad, what’s wrong? Wake up, Dad, please!”
Seemingly annoyed by the boy’s incessant chatter, the middle-aged man suddenly turned to face the boy, his eyes flashing with a fierce light as he raised the scythe. However, before the scythe could fall, he froze, looking down to find a dagger stabbed into his chest.
“Hey, hehehe… Blame it on Dad for not listening to me!” The boy, with his head lowered, emitted a spine-chilling laughter, then slowly raised his head, revealing beast-like eyes that glimmered through the gap between his locks.
Swathes of deep red “worms” crawled across his face, burrowing into the corners of his eyes and nostrils.
The next moment, the boy’s laughter ceased abruptly, his pupils trembling, gradually shrinking in the face of the scythe embedded in his neck.
The fatal injury and intense pain did not deter him; instead, as rage boiled over, he withdrew the dagger from the middle-aged man’s chest and frantically began stabbing repeatedly.
“Thud, thud, thud—!”
A series of muted squelches echoed.
Some came from the scythe; others from the dagger.
…
Luxianbei couldn’t bear to watch the scene of father and son harming each other, silently turning her face away. Yet as she progressed, new scenes flashed into her view.
—
“Bang—!”
With a heavy thump, an elderly man with white hair was kicked away by someone, crashing heavily into a tea stall’s square table, which buckled under his weight.
“Little Bell! Give me back Little Bell, give it back!” The old man shouted hoarsely, struggling painfully to rise and snatch, being tossed around like a ball by a group of frenzied individuals.
Yet before the old man could regain his footing, he was forcefully pinned back down to the ground by shadows from all around.
The next moment, a sharp crack rang out.
A ceramic jar crashed onto the old man’s head, shattering into pieces.
Then, bl**d-curdling screams erupted.
The figures surrounding the old man swiftly picked up the sharp shards scattered around him, stabbing them into his body, tearing open his chest and abdomen, plunging in and violently stirring as if they were a pack of ravenous beasts licking fresh bl**d.
Desperately aiming to grasp the little girl who was gradually slipping away, the old man lifted his withered arm from the encircling crowd, but ultimately grasped nothing, with his limbs weakening and falling into the growing pool of bl**d beneath him.
—
“Whew—!”
With a long exhale of foul air, Luxianbei closed her eyes.
She had seen the grandfather and granddaughter, who were like rootless duckweed struggling amidst the bloody tide, twice.
Once through the urban legend of Xia Lianqing, witnessing the shadows of the past; the old man ran a humble tea stall while the little girl sold flowers nearby, their lives seemed a bit meager yet full of warmth and joy.
The second time was when she checked a residence at the end of the street inside the God Realm Yumen a millennium later, where she saw the already decayed remains of the grandfather and granddaughter.
She had originally thought that the shocking sight was the result of the Shaman Queen’s army breaking into the city and had never imagined it would be the result of the city’s citizens turning against each other…
Adjusting her state slightly, Luxianbei continued forward, her gaze shifting toward the direction where the little girl had vanished.
—
With the rise and fall of the figure referred to as Little Bell, shadows huddled together, covered in deep red flesh, erupted in unrestrained laughter.
Waves of deep red glows joyfully fluttered through the crowd, sometimes entering through the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose of individuals, and instantly leaping back into the air, visibly swelling further.
Those deep red glows pulled something from within the people…
Rationality, conscience, humanity, or perhaps something else.
—
“Eh?” As her gaze moved, Luxianbei suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
She saw a figure.
Not viewed through the peculiar powers of her eyes.
That figure was concretely present right there on the street not far ahead.
Unlike the lifeless bodies frequently seen along the way, this figure’s body was relatively intact, though it lacked a complete arm or leg, the minute details of its brutality were not to be underestimated.
It seemed to be a Longxiang Army Armor Soldier; at this moment, his armor was almost completely shattered, with only a few tattered black armor plates and tanned leather hanging from his shoulders, exposing a body full of “thorns.”
Spindles, scissors, iron cones for breaking sugar, sharp wooden sticks with broken ends… all manner of seemingly mundane items resembled cruel torture instruments born to inflict pain.
Simply looking from afar, one could imagine the scene in which irrational citizens shredded his armor and ruthlessly thrust their “weapons” into his body.
He knelt in the center of the street, one arm wrapped protectively around his chest, and it was faintly visible that he cradled something; the other hand gripped a Fengchi Spear, resting on the ground as support for his wobbling body.
Noticing the Fengchi Spear, Luxianbei’s eyelids twitched, her heart tightening.
She recognized that spear; Long Bang had proudly introduced it to her before.
It was a gift from Dragon Bang on the day he tied up his hair.
At this moment, the upright Fengchi Spear glinted with a silvery sheen, seemingly not stained with a drop of bl**d, in stark contrast to the iron shaft beneath the blade, which was riddled with scratches, chips, dents, and even bite marks…
Staring at the battered iron shaft for a long time, images began to surface, and Luxianbei’s brows quickly knitted together.
—
“Get out of the way! b*stard!”
With a thunderous shout, Long Bang soared out from the crowd, seizing the little girl thrown into the air, wrapping her protectively in his arms.
However, before Long Bang could land, numerous arms wielding sharp objects emerged from the frenzied crowd.
Those sharp objects, as Long Bang descended, scraped past the black armor covering his body, igniting a flurry of sparks and producing a series of excruciatingly sharp sounds.
“Thud—!”
Long Bang landed, and with a forceful smash of the Fengchi Spear, a thudding sound reverberated, and a wave of dirt spread from where the spear’s end collided with the ground, like suddenly tossing aside a blanket, causing small objects on it to fly, pushing back the crazed mob around him, creating a brief space.
However, that space existed for less than a breath before being submerged by the oncoming throng again.
Witnessing the approaching figures, Long Bang’s face changed, gripping the Fengchi Spear tightly with one hand, instinctively sweeping it forward. Upon seeing the faces of those figures, doubt flickered in his eyes, and he came to his senses, immediately halting the spear’s motion and raising it defensively.
Then, while protecting his vital areas with the iron shaft of the Fengchi Spear, he crouched down, tightly shielding the little girl he had just rescued in his arms.
The next moment, the crowd surged forth, swallowing up the brief space just as it had consumed Long Bang’s figure…
—
So, the one Long Bang was protecting was that little girl?
I thought it was the iron box containing the Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers’ tokens!
Luxianbei thought, when suddenly a faint coughing sound broke through her thoughts.
“Cough, cough… Who? Who is it?”
Still alive? Luxianbei’s heart trembled, and she hurriedly responded, “It’s me! It’s Shen Baiwei!”
Upon hearing this, Long Bang lifted his swollen and purple eyelids, managing to crack open a slit to glance at Luxianbei, trembling as he attempted a smile, “Shen… Shen Miss? It’s… really you?”
Seeing Long Bang still breathing, Luxianbei instinctively wanted to cast a spell to heal him, but as soon as she raised her hand, she lowered it again.
If Shen Baiwei couldn’t endure her current spell, enhanced with spirit energy effects, how could Long Bang possibly withstand it?
A single spell could very well take Long Bang, who was already heavily injured, out on the spot…
As Luxianbei hesitated momentarily, Long Bang took a shallow breath and spoke again, “Shen… Shen Miss, quick… quick help me see, how is Little Bell…?”
As he spoke, he slowly loosened his grip.
It was only then that Luxianbei noticed that the little girl Long Bang had been protecting had, at some point, become a headless cold corpse, and her dirty little hand still clutched a broken rib bone picked up from somewhere.
One end of the rib was held in the little hand, while the other end had already pierced into Long Bang’s abdomen.
“She…” Luxianbei opened her mouth, repeatedly wanting to say something but fell silent, eventually expressionlessly replying, “She’s fine, just asleep.”
At that moment, she suddenly felt that her prior statement about this place being slightly more bearable than Shen Baiwei’s small room was made too soon.
The chaos of “Shen Baiwei” in that room merely induced physical discomfort and made one feel uneasy.
Whereas the cruelty and malice filled to every corner of this street market delivered a chilling pang to the soul.
Father and son turning against each other, bullying the elderly and weak, being ungrateful, thousands gathering to revel in bl**d and slaughter… everything here could be said to be a projection of hell descending upon earth.
Lost in thought, Luxianbei heard Long Bang’s quivering voice, “Is that so? That’s great…”
His words carried a note of relief.
“Yeah, that’s great.” Luxianbei nodded in agreement, “Let’s go, I’ll take you… you all back to heal.”
Long Bang said nothing, just painfully turned his face to the side.
Following his gaze, Luxianbei spotted the corner of the iron box containing the Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers’ tokens peeking out from the mass of dismembered bodies and sighed silently.
“Understood, I’ll make sure to bring that along as well, don’t worry.”
—
Moments later.
Luxianbei, one hand carrying the iron box with the tokens of the Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers, the other hand grasping the Fengchi Spear, and with Long Bang, who towered over her by two heads, on her back, walked along the path back to the Dai Mu Institute. She could no longer help but pose the question lingering in her heart.
“Long Bang?”
“Mm…”
“When those guys attacked you, why didn’t you resist?” Luxianbei asked.
Although Long Bang’s spirit energy fluctuations were not high, rated barely C-level by modern standards, he was still far stronger than an ordinary person. Coupled with excellent armor and wielding a weapon, it would be truly difficult for an ordinary individual to injure him if he indeed fought back.
“Because… I couldn’t…” Long Bang replied weakly, “Those people… Xie Erlang from the spice shop, Brother Zhang from the tavern, Aunt Wang from the dye house… they are all neighbors I know… citizens of Yumen Pass…”
“When my brother handed me that Fengchi Spear, he said… pointing at the spear tip… ‘This blade only points to enemies’… even if those people lost their senses temporarily, they… they aren’t enemies…”
After hearing Long Bang’s response, Luxianbei fell into prolonged silence, an unusual color dancing in her eyes as she pondered something.
